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"The
sci-fi keyboard noodlings and rhythmic beats of musician Rice and the
"interpretive dance" of her performance partner Grace Martini
have enjoyed a following." "Break
out the blue cocktails and orange chiffon, VAV Jungle is here to groovify
your dreary existence." Eve Rice is the founder of VAV Jungle, an innovative and original electronic group that emerged from Canada, Winnipeg. Eve creates an electronic and techno music that is combined with psychedelic, new wave, rock and salsa influences. She is about to release her second album, "Faux". Eve brings a breath of originality and humor to the electronic world, by creating incredible onstage costumes, zany lyrics and using keyboards that resemble the sixties cartoon, The Jetsons. VAV Jungle is always comprised of Eve Rice and different guests for "loud" or "soft" volume shows: Salt & Battery (from the band Nathan), Za'ina (who is the group's belly dancer when they perform live), Baba Gigi and others. Eve's mastering skills have led her to engineer her third CD, "Faux". Her previous album, "Models for Jelly" has been used in films such as "Jane White is Sick and Twisted" (janewhitemovie.com), "Marine Life" and has also been featured on "The Chris Isaak Show". Songs such as "Spaceflight" and a rendition of The B-52's "Planet Claire" are impressive in their mixing as much as in the rhythm. Eve is intelligent, talented and charming. Interview by Mauricio Saravia
Eve Rice: I am producing everything now and I am constantly being influenced by things around me. It's a sort of weird sixties techno. It's a little more strange in some aspects. I'm using a lot of really weird stuff that you wouldn't expect to be in a song. Before, I had worked with Stephen Falk. He's the one that told me that it was better for me to start recording myself! I was being a picky little thing at the time . . . He told me: "You know exactly what you want to do, why don't you start producing yourself?" He was totally helpful. A great friend. I started using Pro Tools and mixing the last album. I feel that it was totally worth it. It's just mind-boggling what you can do. I think, sometimes if you start tweaking things too much, that starts to destroy what you wanted to do in the first place. I don't want to be mixing, and mixing and mixing. It has to be a little bit raunchy and I like to leave a little bit of leftover stuff, because it creates an atmosphere. As long as it has loudness to it, that's the most important thing. If you keep fooling around with it, sometimes you destroy what you really liked when you heard it in the headphones or on the speakers the first time. If it works for me, I just leave it that way. Strange but true workings in electronic sound, but it works for me. AI: Your songs feature a lot of keyboards. ER: I use a Yamaha keyboard right now, a PSR - 8000 and a Tribe unit. I've used a variety of keyboards, samplers and drum machines in the past. The new CD will be mainly those two instruments. I just mix until I am happy with it and I may have one or two things. I don't want it to get too heavy for some things. I'm into sounds and I like to sample things. It depends. Sometimes, you do things and it gets to be too much, so you start again. It's fun to do that.
ER: That will be in the album. I really like it too. A lot of people think it should be the single for the new album. I have a different version than the demo you have heard. With electronic stuff you can change it and make it sound different. AI: VAV Jungle creates a fashion image, as much as music. ER: Yes. It's a bit bizarre! I used to put cassettes in the late eighties, and had all this cheap clothing and jewelry, but if you wear it the right way, it works. (Laughs). Image wise, I have been influenced by the sixties, seventies, and eighties and old sitcoms I guess. I have also been influenced by a corny style, such as Lawrence Welk. He show was very bizarre. The girls and the guys would wear these matching outfits and had their hair done in unusual ways. I find it really fun to take those things. I have kids come up to me and ask me: "Where did you get that?" I like that there is a style created out of music. Years ago, I wasn't into image at all. I had another band. I actually left that band because everyone was concerned with their image, and I just wanted to do music. Over the years, I found it's really important to have a style to make it fun and wild. AI: I like the shades that you use. ER: Yes! Like Roy Orbison, hiding behind his shades. I love sunglasses! I have about a hundred of them. I'm very addicted to sunglasses. I love shoes and sunglasses. (Laughs). AI: How does the audience respond when you perform live? ER: Everybody is really into it! Some people have seen me quite a few times, but to keep it interesting, I do new stuff and every time I play I add more songs. People seem to like it. Sarah plays the sampler sometimes, and the clarinet. She does backup vocals as well as percussion. I call her "Rocking Star" when she performs with me. It's very spiritual. She's a very neat person. I play with her a lot more now, because she is very easy to bounce stuff off. She does a lot of impromptus noises when I sing, sometimes it will be straight ahead vocals, or weird noises. She knows when to do it. The music is electronic and we want to throw in something live. You have to make it interesting. When I perform, I play over the music and I have effects on my voice. It depends on the show. It always changes but always maintains it's original concept. AI: Did anything unusual happen in your performances? ER: Well, once we had a bathtub made up of bubble wrap. It was the whole theme of bubbles. (Laughs). There were about five thousand people, everyone was going crazy, groovy. The power went out. I got about eight songs done, and all of a sudden there was only one mike working and I started to sing, "Rubber Ducky". AI: I liked your version of The B-52's "Planet Claire". ER: Yes, true. It's nice. Well, when we play that song, we have the belly dancer perform to it. We have worked with her in the last two years. I like that one because of the techno bongos. Actually, I just did her hair yesterday. She is one of the best belly dancers ever. She brings class into belly dancing. She knows how to use these great costumes. Za'ina is amazing. The greatest thing she ever did on stage, was when she was dressed up as an alien and had an LED put on her head. I didn't know what she was going to wear. (Laughs). She told me: "I'll just be there, I know when the song comes on." She was totally painted in silver. It was amazing! I had no clue she was going to do this. The lighting guy saw her with this bright silver material all over her as well and spotlighted her. I think if you look at our web site, you can see another show with her wearing a Cleopatra costume that she had made for another show. She invents all different kinds of costumes. AI: The songs from "Models for Jelly" were used for Chris Isaak? ER: Yes. "Spaceflight" was used in an episode called "Tomorrowland". I didn't actually see the episode. It's very bizarre the way it all happened. This guy from an agency phoned me about my first CD and said that they weren't going to use the song. Then Paramount Pictures contacted me and said, "Where do we send you your check?" I thought it wasn't used. It had been used in that episode. I didn't even get a chance to hear it. All I know is that it was used as a background theme. AI: What's a day in the life of Eve Rice like? ER: I get up, work on music, smell coffee . . . go for good dinners and hang with really good friends. Compose. Sometimes, in the winter, I don't compose as much. In the spring, your hormones go all kooky and you work on music. It gives you energy. (Laughs). Lately, it's a manic thing, I just get so involved in making music. I'm always trying to do something with some song, or trying to figure out what I'm going to do with VAV Jungle. AI: Thank you very much, Eve! You Can Visit VAV Jungle's Official Site at: www.vavjungle.com |
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